TOME’S LADY TITANS START SEASON WITH 3-0 WIN OVER THE WEST NOTTINGHAM RAMS

By Megan Steimer

COLORA, MD - The West Nottingham Rams (0-1) hosted the Tome Titans (10) for the first Mid-Atlantic Independent League matchup between Cecil County teams this season. The Titans won in straight sets with game scores 25-5, 2513, and 25-3.

It was a strong start for Titans’ captain, Katy Bullerman, who dominated the service line, recording at least 12 service points in a row before the Rams were able to return the ball for a point. A block from sophomore Natalie Siezak put Tome up 22-5 before putting game one away, taking a 1-0 match lead. The Rams kept the score close early in the second set. A block by senior captain Jenniah Odige put her team within two points of a tie, giving new life to West Nottingham, “I think the encouragement from the team is something we all definitely needed” said Odige, who is one of just two returning players from the year before. However, the two-point deficit was the closest the Rams would get.

Tome once again heated up at the line with multiple players going on service runs, including freshman Ainsley Carrillo and senior captain Alivia Carrillo. “In the beginning, I didn’t feel like my serves were that great. I started working on my jump serve and towards the end I was getting some points.

Overall, I think we did pretty good serving” noted the captain. While a few passing errors near the end of game two gave West Nottingham opportunities on offense, the Titans ultimately put the second set away 25-13.

Once again, Tome’s serving was the talk of game three. Jumping out to a 11-0 lead, Alivia Carrillo went on yet another service run, recording four aces during her time at the line. She was also busy feeding the ball to outside hitter Katy Bullerman and sister Ainsley who had a team high seven kills in the match. Ainsley Carrillo went on a nine-point service run to close out game three and the match. Ainsley finished her first varsity game with a team high seven kills and seven aces while Bullerman tallied four kills and seven aces as well. Alivia recorded a team high 22 assists and 11 aces to start her senior year with the Titans, “I’m really proud of how everyone came together, we had a lot of new players show up today and there was some great hitting as well.” For the Rams, Odige recorded two aces and two digs while fellow captain Avian Josephs registered a team high three digs for the defense. With this being the first match of the year for the Rams’ squad, Odige remained optimistic, “I feel like we did good as a team, we had a little rough patch with communicating but, we did the best that we could.”